Nikki Grahame’s mother on her daughter’s ‘pathetic’ condition after she died battling eating disorders

Big Brother star Nikki Grahame had a BMI of just 10 when she died a year ago at the age of 38. As a child, she developed anorexia

Nikki Grahame’s mother has recalled what a “pathetic” condition her daughter was in when she died battling an eating disorder.

Sue Grahame said Big Brother star Nikki had a BMI of just 10 and could not climb stairs when she died a year ago on Saturday at the age of 38.

Body mass index is your weight in kilograms divided by your height in meters squared. Doctors put a healthy BMI for women between 18.5 and 24.9.

Nikki, a former beauty therapist, had shared how she developed anorexia as a child and had written two books about her condition, 2009’s Dying to Be Thin and Fragile, which was published in 2012.

A Channel 4 documentary will be shown tonight to mark the anniversary of her death.

Sue said her daughter showed signs of illness at the age of eight when she refused to sit down in a restaurant on Mother’s Day.

She said: “She was very withdrawn and just going into decline. Little did I know it was going to be a 32-year journey.”

Recalling the day Nikki died, Sue told BBC Breakfast: “She was taken to the local hospital in Dorset with blue lights on and was there for two weeks.

“She had a BMI of 10, she was pathetic and I went there every day to shower her, dress her, sit with her at meals to relieve the nurses, it wasn’t a special unit.

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“Nikki managed to convince her that when I go home I’ll be fine. They had already said we can’t have you, you can’t do stairs so they let her home and she died that night.”

Sue said she’s glad her daughter got on Big Brother in 2006 and that Nikki has never had any regrets.

She added: “She said in interviews that Big Brother saved her life because that was the healthiest and happiest thing she had been in those years.

“When the doors opened and she heard the cheering, it was real, her tears.

“Moving on at Big Brother was her dream and I’m really glad she did it, she deserved it.”

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